Wisconsin Basketball May Have Its Starting Five For The 2026-27 Season

It never ceases to amaze how quickly things change in the transfer portal.

Just four days ago, Wisconsin basketball was without a transfer addition and had six open spots to fill on its roster, two weeks into the portal being open .

Following a flurry of moves, the Badgers now sit with three portal signees and just three roster spots to fill ahead of the 2026-27 season, provided they manage to retain everyone currently on the squad.

Thus, it's reasonable to assume this roster is almost complete. With just three spots to fill, Wisconsin appears to have locked up the majority of its key players. Of course, there's still some room to add firepower, but the Badgers' starting five could be a foregone conclusion at this point.

After the Badgers' recent plundering of the portal, here's what their projected starting five for the 2026-27 season looks like:

Point Guard	Shooting Guard	Wing	Power Forward	Center
Owen Foxwell	Trey Autry	Eian Elmer	Austin Rapp	Nolan Winter

Strengths of Badgers' Potential Starting Five:

Former Miami (OH) RedHawks wing Eian Elmer. | Frank Bowen IV/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Three-Point Shooting: Considering Wisconsin took the 6th-highest percentage of its shots from downtown in the entire country last season, it's no surprise the Badgers prioritized long-range shooting in the portal. It's been a massive part of the offensive revolution in Madison and that's not changing anytime soon.

Foxwell is a career 37 percent three-point shooter in Australia's NBL. Autry shot 39 percent from deep the past two seasons. Elmer is a career 41 percent three-point shooter. Rapp shot 36 percent from deep last season, while Winter shot 33 percent. This lineup can absolutely fill it up from downtown.

Experience: This would be a grizzled, well-seasoned group. Foxwell is 22 years old and has the better part of five NBL seasons under his belt with 111 career games. Autry will be a senior and has played in 100 career games with 68 career starts. Elmer will also be a senior and has played in 99 games with 85 starts. Rapp enters his second year with the Badgers and his third season overall, while Winter will be a senior and has been a full-time starter in Madison for two seasons.

Size: There's good positional size in this lineup as well. Foxwell is 6-foot-2, Autry is 6-foot-4, Elmer is 6-foot-7, Rapp is 6-foot-10 and Winter is an even 7-feet tall. With Winter and Rapp continuing to get bigger and stronger in the offseason, plus the addition of a lanky wing in Elmer, this is a long, tall lineup that shouldn't be faced with too many mismatches.

Weaknesses of Badgers' Potentail Starting Five:

Dayton Flyers guard Javon Bennett dribbles the ball against George Washington guard Trey Autry. | Matt Lunsford-Imagn Images

Defense: Elmer is renowned for his defense, and his size certainly helps in that regard. The rest of the starting five, at least on paper, doesn't have much going for it defensively.

Rapp took strides towards the end of last season on defense, and Winter has shown growth in that department as well. Still, neither big is known as a rim protector. Foxwell has good instincts defensively and can get handsy and notch some steals, but he's still just a 6-foot-2 point guard. Autry's defense is a bit of a wild card; it'll be interesting to see how he takes to the Badgers' defensive philosophies.

This isn't to say this starting five would be doomed to poor defensive play. It's certainly possible this group takes strides, but we just haven't seen enough out of each player individually that indicates this will be a particularly strong defense.

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